The Chronicles of Narnia/Fridge

The Books

Fridge Brilliance

While I'm still not that much of a fan of the series, I thought it was kind of interesting to learn from The Other Wiki that in the Narnia books, the god Tash of Calormene was based upon Medieval demonizations of Islam. I think this definitely shows Lewis' intellect and suggests that rather than necessarily believing that Muslims are devil-worshippers (Jack Chick is hopefully one of the few people who think this way), he was using the medieval idea to add to Narnia's overall "storybook" quality.-- Jordan
- According to be book collecting Lewis' correspondence with fans in my possession, Tash was inspired by some of the animal-headed deities of ancient times and certain deities mentioned in the Old Testament. He never mentioned (or gave indication of) Tash being inspired by Islam, though he did state that Calormene was inspired by Arabian Nights. As far as the books go, Aravis, Emeth, and the inhabitants of the entire city of Tashbaan seen in Aslan's Country show that he didn't consider the Calormene to be innately evil. Rather, we unfortunately only got to know a few of the better ones in any meaningful way. Aslan's interview with Emeth in The Last Battle makes clear there are many people worshipping him who are actually worshipping Tash, and that there are people who worship Tash but are counted as loving Aslan. Intent seems to be more important than lip service.
  - Which when you think that Tash is basically Satan and Aslan is basically Jesus, is a very nice little gentle warning (or perhaps a Take That) at self-righteous Christians who go to church every Sunday but have hate in their hearts and look down on people instead of helping them. In addition, if you take Tash as a symbol of non-Christian religions, it seems that although Lewis himself was a devout Christian, he did not consider other religions to be evil, just perhaps mistaken (still a bit patronising, but not bad for the time). In the end, just because you say you are a follower of Aslan doesn't mean your service isn't being accepted by Tash, and equally, just because you pray to Tash, doesn't mean Aslan doesn't hear you.
  - Patronizing? What did you expect? Everyone holds hands together and sings Kumbaya?
  - You do realize that anyone who has a real opinion about anything, especially religion, thinks like that. Of course Lewis thinks what he believes is right. Why else would he hold those beliefs?
  - Would either Christians or Muslims feel ccmplimented by the implication that they don't believe their religion is true? That they are just following convention perhaps? Or that they are just members of a big frat club and neither is important enough to be wrong?
- The hypnosis scene from The Silver Chair is on the Narm/Literature page, because the Lady's manner of disproving the existence of the surface "involves her asking for every magnificent surface concept, "Please, what is this [insert concept here]?"" This is quite the opposite for me; if she was able to do so with nothing but the powder in the fire, the harp, and asking a few rhetorical questions, think what she would've done if Puddleglum hadn't been there and she'd really been able to get her teeth in. It also makes it amazing that Rilian managed to resist her for ten years.

Fridge Horror

The statues in the White Witch's fortress.
- Practically most of the fates of the Seven Lords in Dawn Treader.
- The fate of Susan in The Last Battle. She's still in the our world, but her entire family has died in a violent train accident.
The Chronicles of Narnia has a mild case of this trope. In The Horse and His Boy, different characters claim that the Calormene nobles are descended from Tash, the chief Calormene deity, who is eventually seen in The Last Battle. Assuming that's literally true, it means Tash- a creature with a vulture's head, a skeletal humanoid body and four taloned arms who stinks of death- periodically mates with human women. Oh, and Aslan describes Tash as a demon.
- "Assuming that's literally true" is a pretty big assumption. How many Real Life rulers have claimed to be descended from gods? And how would that mesh with Aslan's claim that every positive act of worship towards Tash was accepted by Aslan (and every negative to Aslan accepted by Tash)?
  - Still, it's not impossible to consider. Lewis wrote a universe that at least in part used Greek mythology. While Tash wasn't derived from those myths, it's not out of the question that Lewis knew about the whole Double Standard Rape (Divine on Mortal) thing.
  - If that's the case though, it is entirely possible that Tash would take a more desirable form for the...erm, courtship.
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has 2 in-universe examples: Goldwater Island (later deemed Deathwater Island) and the "Island Where Dreams Come True."
  - It also has another out-universe one: When the characters reach the end of the world and meet Aslan. Aslan tells them what lies behind him is his country. Reepicheep asks Aslan if he could enter. He accepts and Reepicheep goes to his death. Yeah, Aslan's Country is really heaven, and Reepicheep just killed himself. Even worse was that Caspian wanted to go just to check on his father.
    - YMMV on that one. You're treating it like this life is all there is. Reepecheep certainly didn't think so.
  - The aspect of the story's structure in the original book is crucial, in that it's modeled on The Pilgrims Progress. The islands represent various stages on the journey to heaven. For example, Goldwater (Deathwater) involves renouncing greed and the pursuit of wealth, because it leads to death (literally). The Darkness (or place where dreams come true) are the sum of human fears; you renounce fear, embrace faith, and follow hard after God (the albatross who brings light in the darkness, whispers "Courage, dear heart," to Lucy and leads the ship out, destroying the Darkness in the process), and Reepicheep's going over the falls into Aslan's Country doesn't involve his death, but he ends up in heaven the way Enoch or Elijah did: they were taken up to heaven, but did not die. Caspian would not have needed to stay. In the book, the Darkness isn't spreading - I think the movie's scriptwriters just didn't have a clue, and that's why this troper avoided the movie like the plague.
  - Assuming that scriptwriters don't have a clue when it comes to anything vaguely Christian, let alone one of the biggest classics of the Christian fiction cannon, is a safe bet.
    - You'd be surprised what scriptwriters don't have a clue about. Popularity does not save works from having their original intent distorted beyond all recognition.
The ending of the last book is fine...as long as you don't think about the implications. After all, it indicates that Aslan [read: God] could reach from one universe into another, bringing the souls of the seven dead Friends of Narnia into the Narnia universe and, from there, into Heaven. That implies that Aslan could just as easily have reached in from the Narnia universe and prevented the train wreck, thus saving the lives of the Friends of Narnia, the Pevensie parents, and anyone else killed in the accident and sparing anyone who would otherwise be injured or maimed...but he deliberately chose not to do so.
The genocide of the Old Narnians by the Telmarines. The Telmarines conquer Narnia and instantly start wiping out Talking Animals and supernatural beings, driving survivors into hiding for hundreds of years. And yet Aslan not only doesn't strengthen or comfort his people while they're being exterminated OR prevent the extermination in the first place, he's physically absent from Narnia during this time, to the point where many Old Narnians regard him as a myth. In other words, the god of this world vanishes when his people have the greatest need of him.
- Not only that, but this isn't the first time Aslan disappears. We're told that the White Witch ruled for a hundred years. And during that period of time, the divine being that sang Narnia into existence is nowhere to be seen; her magic keeps spring, Father Christmas and the aforementioned deity out of Narnia. This means that either the White Witch is, at least for a time, more powerful than a god, at least in terms of the rules that she is forcing Aslan to obey...or that Aslan could have re-entered Narnia at any time and just--didn't. He has to be prevented from doing too much for the sake of the story, but since Aslan is Lion Jesus, and therefore presumably omnipotent and omniscient, his inaction does not make him look good.
That's what Real Life is like whether there is a God or not and whatever form he takes. Religious people wonder about that, too, and complain to God about it no end. Lewis lost a mother when he was a boy, went to two abusive boarding schools, and endured two World Wars. Is Lewis supposed to say things are all hunky-dory in Narnia? And if he does how does he write anything?

The Movies

Fridge Brilliance

This is only in The Film of the Book, but watch The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and the romance between Susan and Caspian. Romantic Plot Tumor? I don't think so anymore. Look at it this way: Susan had grown up and become a Queen during The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. During that time she probably had suitors- and it's made explicit in A Horse and Her Boy that she does. Then she goes back home, and she's a girl again. One year later maybe she's readjusted to her "before" life, and she get's dragged back to Narnia where she ends up falling in love. Of course, as soon as that happens, she's sent back home again, and told she will never return. With that context, the last book (where she no longer believes in Narnia) makes a lot more sense- she probably stopped believing so that the "hurt" could go away. (Well, it makes a lot more sense to me at least- Your Mileage May Vary).
- Susan's main problem throughout the books has always been her attraction to materialism and worldliness getting in the way of her life's mission. In the book, Aslan's personal message for her is that she has "listened to fears" that she needs to forget. In three subsequent books, she is described as having become rather shallow, interested more in parties and flirting than anything else, even during her queenly years in Narnia. Given that personality profile, it makes total sense to me that she had an attraction to Caspian, but was able to set it aside fairly readily with a flippant remark about their ages. She was more in love with romance than with Caspian.

Fridge Horror

In the third movie, they've "defeated" the green mist thingy, and now you have at lease a dozen boatloads of people in the middle of the sea, stranded hundreds, if not thousands of miles from their homes. Just what happened to those people?
- Not that serious an example: they're close enough to Ramandu's island to land there, recouperate, and eventually build ships for the return voyage.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The Dark Island. It was already pretty creepy in the book with no real reason to be there, but it just seemed to be a localized effect. In the film, the Dark Island is implied to be sentient, and its power is spreading. Why? The worst bit is that it is apparently really close to Aslan's Country, which is essentially Heaven. Again why? Who made it? The other evil in the world of Narnia almost explicitly exists because of outside interference, but the Dark Island has apparently been part of Narnia for at least a few decades, and it seems to want to swallow up all of Narnia, for no clear reason. The question here is, who made it?
- Aslan aka God made it, as it seems to be either an allegory for Lucifer or Hell.
  - According to the filmmakers' commentary, they took a piece from The Silver Chair, specifically its villian. Supposedly the Lady of the Green Kirtle caused the mist, not Aslan, nor the Emperor Beyond the Sea.